The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Episode 40: The King of the Forest

As we returned near the outer wall, Rene, flanked by numerous adventurers, greeted us with a surprised look.

“Y-you guys… what on earth?”

“We’re just A Rank adventurers, you know that, right?”

“I know, but isn’t that a bit too strong?”

“Not really. More importantly, what’s going on with you all?”

I was more curious about the preparations for Rene and her team’s operation than any talk about our strength.

“Ah, right. Sorry. We’ve decided to work with the Knight Order dispatched by the lord to take care of the monsters here. The outer wall of this town is sturdy since it’s close to the forest where the monsters live, so it won’t be broken easily.

Also, an elite force directly led by the lord, along with several S Rank adventurers, will be circumventing the forest while we deal with the monsters attacking us from it. During that time, they plan to hunt down the King of the Forest.”

It seemed the operation was incredibly straightforward: while the mixed force of knights and adventurers led by Rene protected the town, the elite team led by the lord aimed to defeat the King of the Forest.

(Hmm. As a strategy, it makes sense. Defeating the King of the Forest should cause the weaker monsters to scatter without a fight. The real issue is…)

Whether the lords can actually defeat the King of the Forest. That was the biggest concern.

To confirm the strength of the King of the Forest, I combined my detection magic with magic sensing and expanded the area towards the forest.

“Whoa!! …Heh, I see.”

Then, deep in the forest, one monster could be classified as a beast, and it noticed my detection magic, emanating an aura full of killing intent.

“Is it waiting for me? But how does it know about me? No…”

Such things no longer mattered. What was important was that this beast was waiting deep in the forest to fight me.

“Fiera, let’s go. It seems it’s waiting for me over there.”

“Got it.”

After calling out to Fiera, we turned our backs to Rene and the others, heading toward the forest.

“W-wait! Where do you think you’re going?!”

“To the King of the Forest. It looks like it’s waiting for me, so I thought I’d go see it.”

“Waiting for you? What do you mean? Besides, the lord and the S Rank adventurers are heading that way. They’ll surely be able to defeat the King of the Forest, so you don’t need to go!”

Rene would not let us go, and I thought about just pushing through, but it seemed quicker to show her reality, so I shared the killing intent from the King of the Forest with her through perception sharing.

“Yikes!? W-what is this monster…?”

Rene’s face turned pale as she trembled slightly, unable to hide her shock at the presence emanating from the King of the Forest.

And rightly so. Its strength was among the upper echelon of S Rank, bordering on SS Rank levels.

Although it was still a newly born king, it was stuck at S Rank for now, but who knows how strong it could grow moving forward.

“You understand now, right? If things keep going as they are, the lord and his party will undoubtedly get killed by it. If that happens, the beast may come out of the forest to kill me next.

If that happens, and this place turns into a battlefield, the town won’t come out unscathed. That’s why I have to go.”

“…I understand the King of the Forest’s strength. That’s precisely why I can’t believe you can defeat it. So why are you trying to go to it?”

Rene still couldn’t grasp my motives and inquired about why I intended to fight it.

“It’s simple. I want to fight it. If I lose and die, then that’s all there is to it. I’m not particularly keen on living. I seek strength, I seek strong opponents, and I just want to fight the enemies that stand in my way. That’s all.”

“You’re insane…”

“Haha. Call me whatever you like. But that’s who I am.

I won’t waste any more time, so I’m leaving now. Fiera.”

“Okay.”

I called out to Fiera, who had been silently listening, as we activated our physical enhancement magic to head into the forest.

Meanwhile, Zoido, the lord of the Adonia Barony, along with his elite squad, was advancing into the forest to defeat the newly born King of the Forest, sweating profusely with each step.

“Lord Zoido, this is bad. This opponent is beyond our ability to handle…”

“I know. But as the one responsible for this territory, I cannot retreat now.”

The ominous presence radiating from deep within the forest made everyone there aware that they might not return safely.

(I’ve brought about six S Rank adventurers, but perhaps this time we won’t win…)

Monster ranks are assigned based on scenarios where multiple people fight them, and it’s almost impossible for a single adventurer of the same rank to win alone against a monster.

This probability decreases even more with higher ranks, and previously, when Lewis and the others defeated the dragon in the dungeon, it would generally take about eight A Rank adventurers or five S Rank adventurers to form a party to take down a dragon due to its size and flying ability.

The King of the Forest that appeared last time was an S Rank bear-type monster, and it had taken five S Rank adventurers along with the knight order led by Zoido to barely defeat it.

However, the new King of the Forest was radiating an even stronger aura than the previous one and was far beyond what they could hope to defeat with their current members.

Still, they were determined to take the next step, driven by their pride and the honor of being adventurers of high rank.

At that moment, Lewis used detection magic to sense the King of the Forest, encountering its overwhelming killing intent that made them involuntarily step back in fear instead of advancing.

“W-what a killing intent…”

“I-it’s impossible, Lord Zoido! There’s no way we can defeat such a monster! We should retreat!”

One adventurer with Zoido proposed retreating, overwhelmed by the terror.

“B-but…”

Zoido hesitated on the surface, but deep down, he wanted nothing more than to flee right away.

They had long lost their previous pride and resolve, unable to muster the courage to move forward or decide to escape.

At that moment, two figures zipped past them at an incredible speed.

“What? Kids?”

Everyone here was a strongfighter, so they clearly saw the figures of the two children, Lewis and Fiera, as they raced past using physical enhancement.

“W-what are they…?”

In the presence of the killing intent from the King of the Forest, Zoido and his team could only watch as Lewis and Fiera charged ahead without hesitation.

As we entered the forest, we used detection magic to locate the monsters and chose the route with the fewest enemies to reach the King of the Forest.

Along the way, I felt like we passed by a group of armed knights and adventurers, but the overwhelming killing intent I felt was making it hard to contain my excitement.

“Heh, I really might die this time. But getting to fight such an opponent is the best. I have to enjoy this to the fullest.”

As we continued deeper into the forest, we finally arrived at the location of the King of the Forest.

It was seated atop a large rock, eyes closed and still.

(A humanoid monster, huh?)

The King of the Forest resembled us humans, having two arms and two legs.

However, could its original species have been insectoid? It had a large horn and a small horn growing from its head, and its body was covered in a dark, shell-like armor.

(A beetle-like insect monster, huh?)

“Fiera, I’ll take this one.”

“El!”

Fiera, seeing the King of the Forest before us and sensing its extraordinary strength, attempted to stop me from facing it alone, her voice filled with anger.

“Don’t rush. You’ll take care of the other one.”

As I said this, a humanoid-shaped bee monster emerged from the shadow of the large rock.

“Since there’s a king, naturally there should be a queen.”

Although they belonged to different species, the sight of these two side by side truly gave off the air of a king and queen.

“…Got it. I’ll take it down right away.”

“Yeah. Just take your time. Stay careful and don’t be reckless.”

“Mm.”

After exchanging those words, Fiera signaled to the bee monster, and the two moved off to another location.

(Indeed, their intelligence seems significantly higher compared to other monsters. Do they perhaps understand our words?)

As I contemplated these questions while still gazing at the king sitting before me, its eyes slowly opened.

“I am Build, the King of this Forest. You must be Lewis, am I right?”

“You know who I am?”

I was startled not only that the King of the Forest suddenly spoke but even more so that it knew my name.

“I was born to defeat you. Therefore, I awaited your arrival.”

(You were born to defeat me? What does that mean…)

My conversation with Build spawned more questions, but what mattered more right now was that it targeted me, and I was here to battle it.

“I see. Well then, let’s enjoy this to the fullest!”

As I grinned and stated this, the King of the Forest, Build, stood up from the large rock, looking down at me.

In this moment, the battle between the King of the Forest Build and Lewis was finally about to begin.